Charging method, apparatus, and system

ABSTRACT

A charging method applied to a network architecture in which network control and data flow forwarding are separated. The method includes receiving, by a control plane (CP) entity, a charging rule delivered by a policy and charging rules function PCRF entity, generating, by the CP, a user plane UP entity reporting policy based on the charging rule, requesting, by the CP from an online charging system OCS, a quota required by a rating group in the charging rule, receiving, by the CP, a quota delivered by the OCS, and generating UP quota information based on the quota; and delivering, by the CP, the generated UP reporting policy and the generated UP quota information to the UP.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/352,685, filed on Mar. 13, 2019, which is a continuation ofInternational Application No. PCT/CN2017/091219, filed on Jun. 30, 2017,which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No.201610839333.2,filed on Sep. 21, 2016, and Chinese Patent Application No.201610826665.7, filed on Sep. 14, 2016. All of the afore-mentionedpatent applications are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of communicationstechnologies, and specifically, to a charging method, a chargingapparatus, and a charging system that are applied to a networkarchitecture in which control and data flow forwarding are separated.

BACKGROUND

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) defines an architecturalof a policy and charging control (PCC) framework. The PCC frameworkincludes: a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) entity, a policyand charging enforcement function (PCEF) entity, an online chargingsystem (OCS), and the like. The PCRF is mainly configured to determine aPCC rule for a user, and send the determined PCC rule to the policy andcharging enforcement function (PCEF) entity. The PCEF is usuallyimplemented based on a gateway and may be connected to a plurality ofaccess networks.

Currently, a basic online charging mechanism is as follows: A chargingtrigger function (CTF) in a gateway completes quota application, quotamanagement, and quota usage monitoring, performs a charging collectionfunction, and detects, on the gateway, whether conditions for alltrigger events/conditions (for example, a user location change or aquality of service (QoS) change) are met. A PCEF located in a gatewayapparatus applies, by using rating group information, to an OCS forreservation of credit authorization, and reports, under a specificcondition, collected service information to a charging system. The OCSdeducts fees based on the reported service usage information.

In an existing network architecture, a data gateway (for example, a PDNGateway (PGW)) is located in an excessively high position. To bespecific, to cooperate in charging, cooperate with the PCRF, and thelike, data gateways need to be centrally deployed at a relatively longdistance from an access network, in other words, at a relatively longdistance from a user. Consequently, each data packet has to betransmitted for an extremely long distance in a network before the datapacket is forwarded for processing. In this case, 3GPP puts forward anidea that a control plane and a user plane (Control plane and User plane(CU), also referred to as a data plane) are separated. To be specific,data gateways are classified into a user plane and a control plane forseparate deployment. Specifically, user plane gateways (UGW) may bedeployed in a distributed manner, and may be moved downwards to a placeat a relatively low position as compared with a conventional gateway(located in a relatively high position), for example, close to a RadioAccess Network (RAN). Entity-to-entity (E2E) user plane transmission ofsome local services (whose server is a local server) may all beperformed locally without passing through a backbone network, therebyreducing a lot of transmission delays. In addition, control planegateways are still centrally deployed. The gateways herein may be PGWsin a fourth generation (4G) core network, or may be data gateways in afifth generation (5G) core network.

In the prior art, in the architecture in which network control and dataflow forwarding are separated, a charging enforcement function cannot beperformed at one point. For example, because trigger conditions aredistributed to a control plane entity and a user plane entity in anetwork, quota application, quota management, data flow informationcollection and the like cannot be performed at one point. Consequently,charging is performed at coordinated multi-points.

Therefore, in an existing charging mechanism and an existing chargingsolution, online credit control cannot be performed in the architecturein which network control and data flow forwarding are separated.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a charging method, acharging apparatus, and a charging system, to resolve a problem that inan existing charging mechanism and an existing charging solution, onlinecredit control cannot be performed in an architecture in which networkcontrol and data flow forwarding are separated.

According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosureprovides a charging method. The charging method is applied to a networkarchitecture in which network control and data flow forwarding areseparated, and includes: executing, by a control plane (CP) entity, acharging rule installed or activated by a policy and charging rulesfunction PCRF entity, generating, by the CP, a user plane (UP) entityreporting policy based on the charging rule, requesting, by the CP, arequired quota from an online charging system (OCS) based on thecharging rule, receiving, by the CP, a quota delivered by the OCS, andgenerating UP quota information based on the quota, and establishing, bythe CP, an association relationship between the UP reporting policy andthe UP quota information, including, in the UP reporting policy and/orthe UP quota information, a parameter that indicates the associationrelationship, and delivering the UP reporting policy and/or the UP quotainformation to the UP.

In a possible design, if the quota delivered by the OCS is a quotaallocated for a rating group in one or more charging rules, the CPassociates the UP quota information corresponding to the quota deliveredby the OCS with UP reporting policies corresponding to the one or morecharging rules, or if the quota delivered by the OCS is a quotaallocated for a rating group and a service identifier in one or morecharging rules, the CP associates the UP quota information correspondingto the quota delivered by the OCS with UP reporting policiescorresponding to the one or more charging rules. The including, in theUP reporting policy and/or the UP quota information, a parameter thatindicates the association relationship specifically includes: includinga used UP quota ID in the UP reporting policy, including a correspondingUP reporting policy identifier in the UP quota information, or includinga used UP quota ID in the UP reporting policy, and including acorresponding UP reporting policy identifier in the UP quotainformation.

In a possible design, the CP generates a corresponding UP reportingpolicy for the charging rule, where the UP reporting policy includes oneor more of the following: the reporting policy ID, a flow feature and/oran application ID in the charging rule, precedence of the UP reportingpolicy, a CP subscription event, an indication for use of UP quotainformation, or the used UP quota ID, and the CP saves a correspondencebetween the charging rule and the UP reporting policy.

In a possible design, the receiving, by the CP, a quota delivered by theOCS, and generating UP quota information based on the quota delivered bythe OCS includes: correspondingly generating, by the CP, UP quotainformation for each quota delivered by the OCS, where the UP quotainformation includes one or more of the following: a quota ID, a quotatype, a quota value, one or more user plane trigger events correspondingto a quota, or a corresponding UP reporting policy identifier, andsaving, by the CP, a correspondence between the UP quota ID and thequota delivered by the OCS.

In a possible design, the quota delivered by the OCS includes a timedivision point or an event division point, and the UP quota informationfurther includes one or more statistics collection division points, sothat the UP can use the quota, collect statistics about usageinformation, and report the usage information, based on the divisionpoint differentially.

In a possible design, the method includes: determining whether the quotadelivered by the OCS is a single quota or a quota pool, and if it isdetermined that the quota delivered by the OCS is a single quota,generating, by the CP, UP quota information for each rating group in thecharging rule, where UP reporting policy identifiers included in the UPquota information are all UP reporting policies corresponding to one ormore charging rules corresponding to the rating group, or if it isdetermined that the quota delivered by the OCS is a quota pool,generating, by the CP, UP quota information for all rating groups in thequota pool, where UP reporting policy identifiers included in the UPquota information are all UP reporting policies corresponding to allcharging rules corresponding to all the rating groups in the quota pool.

In a possible design, after generating the UP reporting policy or the UPquota information, the CP separately delivers the generated UP reportingpolicy or the generated UP quota information, where the UP reportingpolicy or the UP quota information is associated with currently existingUP quota information or a currently existing UP reporting policy of theUP, or is not associated with any currently existing UP quotainformation or any currently existing UP reporting policy of the UP, orthe CP simultaneously delivers the generated UP reporting policy and thegenerated UP quota information to the UP.

In a possible design, before the receiving, by the CP, a quota deliveredby the OCS, and generating UP quota information based on the quota, themethod further includes: determining, by the CP based on a CCA messagereturned by the OCS, whether to deliver quota information to the UP, andspecifically, if the quota delivered by the OCS is o, or an errormessage is returned in the CCA, not delivering the quota information tothe UP, or if the CP can manage usage of the quota, not delivering thequota information to the UP.

In a possible design, before the requesting, by the CP from an onlinecharging system OCS, a quota required by a rating group in the chargingrule, the method further includes: determining, by the CP, whether thereis an available quota for the rating group in the charging rule, and ifthere is no available quota, requesting, by the CP from the OCS, thequota required by the rating group in the charging rule, if there is anavailable quota and the charging rule has a corresponding UP reportingpolicy, modifying, by the CP, the UP reporting policy based on thecharging rule, and delivering an updated UP reporting policy to the UP,or if there is an available quota but the charging rule does not have acorresponding UP reporting policy, generating, by the CP, a new UPreporting policy for the charging rule, and delivering the new UPreporting policy to the UP, or generating, by the CP, a new UP reportingpolicy for the charging rule, generating updated UP quota informationfor UP quota information corresponding to the rating group in thecharging rule, and delivering the new UP reporting policy and theupdated UP quota information to the UP, where the updated UP quotainformation includes the new UP reporting policy.

In a possible design, the CP receives quota usage information reportedby the UP, and generates a charging report message CCR based on thesaved correspondence between the UP quota ID and the quota delivered bythe OCS, where the CCR includes: a rating group of the quota, quotausage information corresponding to each UP reporting policy ID,information about the control plane entity, a trigger met by the CP,and/or a trigger met by the UP.

In a possible design, the receiving, by the CP, quota usage informationreported by the UP specifically includes: detecting, by the CP, a firstcharging trigger event on a CP side, where the first charging triggerevent is corresponding to information about a first quota, sending, bythe CP, a first request message to the UP, to request the UP to reportusage information of the first quota, where the first request messagecarries an identifier of the first quota or a list of UP reportingpolicy IDs corresponding to the first quota, and receiving, by the CP,usage information that is corresponding to the first quota and that isreturned by the UP, where the usage information corresponding to thefirst quota includes the identifier of the first quota, all UP reportingpolicy IDs corresponding to the first quota, corresponding quota usageinformation, and a trigger currently met by the UP.

In a possible design, the receiving, by the CP, quota usage informationreported by the UP specifically includes: receiving, by the CP, quotausage information that is corresponding to a second quota and that isreported by the UP, where the quota usage information corresponding tothe second quota is usage information that is corresponding to thesecond quota corresponding to a second charging trigger event and thatis reported to the CP after the UP detects the second charging triggerevent on a UP side, and the usage information corresponding to thesecond quota includes an identifier of the second quota, all UPreporting policy IDs corresponding to the second quota, correspondingquota usage information, and a trigger currently met by the UP.

In a possible design, the receiving, by the CP, quota usage informationreported by the UP specifically includes: detecting, by the CP, a thirdcharging trigger event corresponding to a third quota, and sending asecond request message to the UP to request the UP to report usageinformation of the third quota, receiving, by the CP, quota usageinformation that is corresponding to the third quota and that isreported by the UP, where the quota usage information is quota usageinformation that is corresponding to the third quota and that isreported to the CP after the UP detects a fourth charging trigger eventon the UP side, and the usage information of the third quota includes anidentifier of the third quota, all UP reporting policy IDs correspondingto the third quota, and corresponding quota usage information, andreceiving, by the CP, a response message returned by the UP for thesecond request message, where the response message includes anindication that the requested quota usage information has been reported.

According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosureprovides a charging method. The method is applied to a networkarchitecture in which network control and data flow forwarding areseparated, and includes: receiving, by a user plane UP entity, a UPreporting policy and UP quota information that are delivered by acontrol plane CP entity, collecting, by the UP, statistics about quotausage information of the UP based on the UP quota information and the UPreporting policy, and reporting, by the UP, the quota usage informationof the UP to the CP.

In a possible design, the UP reporting policy includes one or more ofthe following: the reporting policy ID, a flow feature and/or anapplication ID in the charging rule, precedence of the UP reportingpolicy, a CP subscription event, an indication for use of UP quotainformation, or a used UP quota ID, and the UP quota informationincludes one or more of the following: a quota ID, a quota type, a quotavalue, one or more user plane triggers corresponding to a quota, or acorresponding UP reporting policy ID, and the collecting, by the UP,statistics about quota usage information based on the UP quotainformation and the UP reporting policy includes: matching, by the UPbased on the flow feature and/or the application ID in the UP reportingpolicy and the precedence of the UP reporting policy, a service dataflow corresponding to the flow feature and/or an application, using, forthe matched service data flow, the UP quota information corresponding tothe UP reporting policy, and separately collecting statistics aboutinformation of the detected service data flow based on the UP reportingpolicy.

In a possible design, the UP determines, based on the indication for useof UP quota information or the used UP quota ID in the UP reportingpolicy, that the UP reporting policy is used for online charging.

In a possible design, when executing the UP reporting policy, the UPdetermines, based on the “indication for use of UP quota information”parameter in the UP reporting policy, that the UP reporting policy isused for online charging, and if the UP reporting policy does not haveassociated UP quota information, requests the associated UP quotainformation from the CP.

In a possible design, when detecting the CP subscription event includedin the reporting policy, the UP reports the event to the CP, where thequota usage information of the UP is not reported.

In a possible design, the UP establishes an association relationshipbetween the UP reporting policy and the UP quota information based onthe “used UP quota ID” parameter in the UP reporting policy, the UPestablishes an association relationship between the UP reporting policyand the UP quota information based on the “corresponding UP reportingpolicy ID” parameter included in the UP quota information, or the UPestablishes an association relationship between the UP reporting policyand the UP quota information based on the “used UP quota ID” parameterin the UP reporting policy and the “corresponding UP reporting policyID” parameter included in the UP quota information.

In a possible design, if the UP quota information further includes oneor more statistics collection division points, the UP separatelycollects statistics about information of service data flows before andafter each statistics collection division point.

In a possible design, the UP receives an update message that is for theUP reporting policy and that is delivered by the CP or an update policythat is for the UP quota information and that is delivered by the CP,detects, based on a new UP reporting policy and/or a new UP quotapolicy, a service data flow corresponding to the flow feature and/or theapplication, uses, for the detected service data flow, UP quotainformation corresponding to the updated UP reporting policy, andcollects statistics about information of the detected service data flowbased on the new UP reporting policy.

In a possible design, the UP receives a first request message deliveredby the CP, to request the UP to report usage information of a firstquota, where the request message is delivered after the CP detects afirst charging trigger event on a CP side, the first charging triggerevent is corresponding to information about the first quota, and thefirst request message carries an identifier of the first quota or a listof UP reporting policy IDs corresponding to the first quota, and the UPreturns the usage information of the first quota to the CP, where theusage information of the first quota includes the identifier of thefirst quota, all UP reporting policy IDs corresponding to the firstquota, and corresponding quota usage information.

In a possible design, the UP reports quota usage informationcorresponding to a second quota to the CP, where the quota usageinformation corresponding to the second quota is quota usage informationthat is corresponding to the second quota corresponding to a secondcharging trigger event and that is reported to the CP after the UPdetects the second charging trigger event on a UP side, and the usageinformation of the second quota includes an identifier of the secondquota, all UP reporting policy IDs corresponding to the second quota,and corresponding quota usage information.

In a possible design, the reporting, by the UP to the CP, thestatistics-collected quota usage information corresponding to the UPreporting policy ID specifically includes: reporting, by the UP, quotausage information corresponding to a third quota to the CP, where thequota usage information is quota usage information that is correspondingto the third quota and that is reported to the CP after the UP detects afourth charging trigger event on the UP side, and the usage informationof the third quota includes an identifier of the third quota, all UPreporting policy IDs corresponding to the third quota, and correspondingquota usage information, receiving, by the UP, a second request messagesent by the CP, to request the UP to report the usage information of thethird quota, where the second request message is a second requestmessage sent to the UP when the CP detects a third charging triggerevent corresponding to the third quota, and returning, by the UP, aresponse message for the second request message to the CP, where theresponse message includes an indication that the requested quota usageinformation has been reported.

According to a third aspect, the present disclosure provides a chargingapparatus. The charging apparatus is applied to a network architecturein which network control and data flow forwarding are separated, and isa control plane CP function apparatus and specifically includes: apolicy generation unit, configured to: execute a charging rule installedor activated by a policy and charging rules function PCRF entity, andgenerate a user plane UP entity reporting policy based on the chargingrule, a quota information generation unit, configured to: request, froman online charging system OCS, a quota required by a rating group in thecharging rule, receive a quota delivered by the OCS, and generate UPquota information based on the quota, and a sending unit, configured to:establish an association relationship between the UP reporting policyand the UP quota information, include, in the UP reporting policy and/orthe UP quota information, a parameter that indicates the associationrelationship, and deliver the UP reporting policy and/or the UP quotainformation to the UP.

In a possible design, the charging apparatus further includes: a triggerunit, configured to: send a first request message to a user plane UPentity after a first charging trigger event is detected on a controlplane side, to request the UP to report usage information of a firstquota, where the request message carries an identifier of the firstquota or a list of UP reporting policy IDs corresponding to the firstquota, and the first charging trigger event is corresponding toinformation about the first quota, a receiving unit, configured toreceive usage information that is corresponding to the first quota andthat is returned by the UP, where the usage information corresponding tothe first quota includes the identifier of the first quota, all UPreporting policy IDs corresponding to the first quota, correspondingquota usage information, and a trigger currently met by the UP, and areporting unit, configured to generate, based on the usage informationthat is of the first quota and that is reported by the UP, a chargingreporting message and send the charging reporting message to the OCS.

In a possible design, the charging apparatus further includes: areceiving unit, configured to: receive quota usage information that iscorresponding to a second quota and that is reported by the UP, wherethe quota usage information corresponding to the second quota is usageinformation that is corresponding to the second quota corresponding to asecond charging trigger event and that is reported to the CP after theUP detects the second charging trigger event on a UP side, and the usageinformation corresponding to the second quota includes an identifier ofthe second quota, all UP reporting policy IDs corresponding to thesecond quota, corresponding quota usage information, and a triggercurrently met by the UP.

In a possible design, the charging apparatus further includes: a triggerunit, configured to: detect a third charging trigger event correspondingto a third quota, and send a second request message to the UP to requestthe UP to report usage information of the third quota, and a receivingunit, configured to receive quota usage information that iscorresponding to the third quota and that is reported by the UP, wherethe quota usage information is quota usage information that iscorresponding to the third quota and that is reported to the CP afterthe UP detects a fourth charging trigger event on the UP side, and theusage information of the third quota includes an identifier of the thirdquota, all UP reporting policy IDs corresponding to the third quota, andcorresponding quota usage information, where the receiving unit isfurther configured to receive a response message returned by the UP forthe second request message, where the response message includes anindication that the requested quota usage information has been reported.

According to a fourth aspect, the present disclosure provides a chargingapparatus. The charging apparatus is applied to a network architecturein which network control and data flow forwarding are separated, and isa user plane UP function apparatus and specifically includes: areceiving unit, configured to receive a UP reporting policy and UP quotainformation that are delivered by a control plane CP function apparatus,a statistics collecting unit, configured to collect statistics aboutquota usage information of the UP based on the UP quota information andthe UP reporting policy, and a reporting unit, configured to report thestatistics-collected UP quota usage information to the CP.

In a possible design, the UP reporting policy includes one or more ofthe following: the reporting policy ID, a flow feature and/or anapplication ID in the charging rule, precedence of the UP reportingpolicy, a CP subscription event, an indication for use of UP quotainformation, or a used UP quota ID, the UP quota information includesone or more of the following: a quota ID, a quota type, a quota value,one or more user plane triggers corresponding to a quota, or acorresponding UP reporting policy ID, and the statistics collecting unitis further configured to: match, based on the flow feature and/or theapplication ID in the UP reporting policy and the precedence of the UPreporting policy, a service data flow corresponding to the flow featureand/or an application, use, for the matched service data flow, the UPquota information corresponding to the UP reporting policy, andseparately collect statistics about information of the detected servicedata flow based on the UP reporting policy.

In a possible design, the receiving unit is further configured to:receive a first request message delivered by the CP, to request the UPto report usage information of a first quota, where the request messageis delivered after the CP detects a first charging trigger event on a CPside, the first charging trigger event is corresponding to informationabout the first quota, and the first request message carries anidentifier of the first quota or a list of UP reporting policy IDscorresponding to the first quota, and the reporting unit is furtherconfigured to return the usage information of the first quota to the CP,where the usage information of the first quota includes the identifierof the first quota, all UP reporting policy IDs corresponding to thefirst quota, and corresponding quota usage information.

According to a fifth aspect, the present disclosure provides a chargingsystem. The charging system is applied to a network architecture inwhich network control and data flow forwarding are separated, andincludes a user plane UP function apparatus and a control plane CPfunction apparatus. The CP function apparatus is configured to: executea charging rule installed or activated by a policy and charging rulesfunction PCRF entity, generate a user plane UP entity reporting policybased on the charging rule, request a required quota from an onlinecharging system OCS based on the charging rule, receive a quotadelivered by the OCS, generate UP quota information based on the quota,establish an association relationship between the UP reporting policyand the UP quota information, include, in the UP reporting policy and/orthe UP quota information, a parameter that indicates the associationrelationship, and deliver the UP reporting policy and/or the UP quotainformation to the UP function apparatus, and the user plane UP functionapparatus is configured to interact with the CP function apparatus andis configured to: receive the UP reporting policy and the UP quotainformation that are delivered by the CP function apparatus, collectstatistics about quota usage information of the UP based on the UP quotainformation and the UP reporting policy, and report, to the CP functionapparatus, the statistics-collected UP quota usage information.

According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosureprovides a charging apparatus. The charging apparatus has a function ofimplementing the foregoing method embodiments. The function may beimplemented by using hardware, or may be implemented by usingcorresponding software executed by hardware. The hardware or thesoftware includes one or more units or modules that are corresponding tothe foregoing function.

In a possible design, a structure of the charging apparatus includes aprocessor and a memory. The memory is configured to store an applicationprogram code that supports the charging apparatus in performing theforegoing methods, and the processor is configured to execute theapplication program code stored in the memory. The charging apparatusmay further include a communications interface, configured forcommunication between the charging apparatus and another device or acommunications network.

According to a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosureprovides a computer storage medium, configured to store a computersoftware instruction used by the foregoing charging apparatus. Thecomputer storage medium includes a program designed for the chargingapparatus to implement the foregoing methods.

In the present disclosure, the name of the control plane entity, theuser plane entity, the control plane function apparatus, the user planefunction apparatus, the charging apparatus, the charging system, or thelike and the names of the units thereof do not limit the devices. Inactual application, these devices or units may have other names.Provided that functions of the devices are similar to those in thepresent disclosure, the devices fall within the scope of the claims inthe present disclosure and their equivalent technologies.

Compared with the prior art, the solutions provided in the presentdisclosure implement online credit control in the architecture in whichnetwork control and data flow forwarding are separated. In this way,charging can support optimized network deployment, precise charging canbe performed on a data service in the optimized deployment, and networkefficiency and user experience can be improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To describe the technical solutions in some embodiments of the presentdisclosure more clearly, the following briefly describes theaccompanying drawings used for describing the embodiments. Apparently,the accompanying drawings in the following description show merely someembodiments of the present disclosure, and a person of ordinary skill inthe art may derive other drawings from these accompanying drawingswithout creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram of a policy and charging control systemin the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a basic online charging mechanism;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an architecture in which networkcontrol and data flow forwarding are separated;

FIG. 4 is a schematic architectural diagram of charging in aCU-separated architecture according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of UP reporting policy generation and chargingquota application according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of reporting charging quota usage information whena CP trigger condition is met according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of reporting charging quota usage information whena UP trigger condition is met according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a charging apparatus 800 according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a charging apparatus 900 according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a charging system woo according to anembodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a charging apparatus according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The following clearly describes the technical solutions in someembodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in some embodiments of the present disclosure. Apparently, thedescribed embodiments are merely some but not all of the embodiments ofthe present disclosure. All other embodiments obtained by a person ofordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the presentdisclosure without creative efforts shall fall within the protectionscope of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a diagram of a PCC architecture defined in3GPP, including a PCRF, a PCEF, a TDF, and an OCS. The PCRF is mainlyconfigured to: determine a PCC rule or an ADC rule for a user, send,through a Gx interface, the determined PCC rule to the PCEF forexecution, and deliver, through an Sd interface, the determined ADC ruleto the TDF for execution. The PCC rule or the ADC rule includes acontrol policy and a charging policy. The control policy includes aquality of service (Quality of Service, QoS) parameter, gating control,redirection, and the like. The charging policy includes a charging keyvalue, a charging method, a charging system address, a measurementmethod, and the like. The PCEF is mainly responsible for executing a PCCrule (including a dynamic PCC rule or a static PCC rule) activated bythe PCRF. The PCEF is mainly deployed on a packet data gateway in anetwork. The TDF is mainly responsible for executing an ADC rule(including a dynamic ADC rule or a static ADC rule) activated by thePCRF. In subsequent descriptions, the PCEF is used as an example.Implementation of the TDF is similar to that of the PCEF.

Referring to FIG. 2, currently, a basic online charging mechanism is asfollows: An online charging trigger point CTF (a PCEF is used as anexample herein) completes quota application and quota usage monitoring,executing a charging collection function, and detects whether conditions(for example, a user location change or a QoS change) for all chargingtrigger events are met. A PCEF located in a gateway apparatus applies toan OCS for a quota (quota) by using a rating group, and reports, under aspecific condition, quota usage and collected service information to acharging system. The OCS deducts fees based on the reported quota usageand the reported service usage information. The PCEF uses the quota andcollects the service information based on a charging granularity(classified into two types of granularities: SERVICE IDENTIFIER LEVEL orRATING GROUP LEVEL) delivered by a PCRF, and reports, under a specificcondition, the quota usage and the collected service information to thecharging system for fees deduction. If the charging granularity isRATING GROUP LEVEL, the PCEF needs to report service usage informationfor each rating group. If the charging granularity is SERVICE IDENTIFIERLEVEL, the PCEF needs to report service usage information for eachcombination of rating group and a service identifier. The chargingtrigger events (online charging is used as an example) for reportingcharging information include the following: A service starts, a servicestops, a granted quota is exhausted, a granted quota expires, an OCSrequests re-authorization, a trigger event delivered by an OCS is met,and the like.

Referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an architecture inwhich network control and data flow forwarding are separated. It can beseen from FIG. 3 that a gateway apparatus PDN-gateway is separated intotwo parts: a PDN gateway-C and a PDN gateway-U. Alternatively, the twoparts are referred to as a CP entity and a UP entity that respectivelyprocess data related to a control plane and data related to a userplane. In the figure, dashed lines indicate the data of the controlplane, and solid lines indicate the data of the user plane. The twonetwork elements obtained after division are connected through an Sxbinterface.

The embodiments of the present disclosure are described by using theforegoing CU-separated architecture of the PDN-gateway as an example.The embodiments of the present disclosure do not limit a deploymentstate in which a position of a user-plane gateway is moved downwards.The solutions provided in some embodiments of the present disclosure canalso be used when a position of a gateway in another state is moveddownwards.

For example, in an architecture in which network control and data flowforwarding are separated (that is, the CU-separated architecture) inFIG. 3, an overall charging architecture provided in some embodiments ofthe present disclosure is shown in FIG. 4 and includes function entitiesdefined as follows:

CCF (Charging Collection Function, charging information collectionfunction entity): The CCF herein is located in a user plane UP entity ina CU-separated data gateway, may be closer to an access network side,and is responsible for interacting with a CTF entity to complete quotausage and service data flow information collection (including triggercondition management, quota validity period management, quota usagemonitoring, data flow information collection, and the like).

CTF (Charging Trigger Function, charging trigger function entity): TheCTF herein is located in a control plane CP entity in a CU-separateddata gateway. The CTF is responsible for establishing an online chargingsession with an OCS and applying for a quota (time, traffic,service-specific quota unit, and the like) and is an endpoint in theonline charging session. In addition, the CTF is responsible forinteracting with a UP to complete quota usage and service data flowinformation collection (including trigger condition management, quotadistribution, and the like).

OCS (Online Charging System, online charging system): The OCS isresponsible for establishing an online charging session with the CTF insome embodiments of the present disclosure and performing quota grantand is an endpoint in the online charging session. In addition, the OCSdeducts an account balance based on charging information reported by theCTF.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, descriptions are providedby using a CP entity (or CP) as a CTF entity and using a UP entity (orUP) as a CCF entity.

A user plane entity trigger event may include a trigger related to adata flow. For example, a quota corresponding to the data flow expires,no data flow is transmitted within a specified threshold, the data flowstarts, and the data flow ends.

A control plane entity trigger event may include a trigger unrelated toa data flow, for example, a QoS change, a RAT type change, and alocation change.

Based on the foregoing CU-separated network architecture and the CPfunction entity and the UP function entity that are defined in someembodiments of the present disclosure, with work division andcooperation between the CP and the UP in a charging process, onlinecharging and credit control can be implemented in the CU-separatednetwork architecture.

The network architecture and a service scenario that are described insome embodiments of the present disclosure are used to describe thetechnical solutions in some embodiments of the present disclosure moreclearly, but do not limit the technical solutions provided in someembodiments of the present disclosure. A person of ordinary skill in theart may know that the technical solutions provided in some embodimentsof the present disclosure are also applicable to similar technicalproblems as the network architecture evolves and a new service scenarioappears.

Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure describes generation of a UPreporting policy and application of a charging quota. This embodimentmainly describes a method for generating a UP reporting policy andapplying for a charging quota by using the UP entity and the CP entitythat are defined in the foregoing embodiments in an architecture inwhich network control and data flow forwarding are separated,specifically, in the network architecture described in FIG. 4 in theforegoing embodiment. For a detailed procedure, refer to FIG. 5.Description of the method is as follows:

Step 500: A control plane CP entity executes a charging rule installedor activated by a policy and charging rules function PCRF entity.

When or after a data connection is established, the PCRF makes a policydecision based on information reported by the CP, information reportedby an OCS, or the like, to determine a to-be-installed/activated PCCrule (PCC rule), and delivers a command to the CP to install/activatethe PCC rule, and the CP executes the PCC rule. The PCC rule may be adynamic PCC rule delivered and installed by the PCRF or a static PCCrule stored on the CP and activated by the PCRF.

There may be one or more charging rules herein.

The PCC rule includes a charging parameter. The charging parameterrefers to a parameter used for charging in the PCC rule. Each chargingPCC rule has an identifier ID and includes a group of chargingparameters, including: a rating group, a charging method, a measurementmethod, a reporting level, precedence, and the like. A plurality ofcharging rules may include a same rating group. In other words, onerating group may be corresponding to one or more charging rules.

The charging rule in this application may refer to a group of chargingparameters included in the PCC rule, or may refer to the PCC ruleitself. Because a ratio of the PCC rule and the charging parametersincluded in the PCC rule is 1:1, implementation of the solution in thepresent disclosure is not affected when the charging rule is understoodas either of the two meanings.

Step 501: The CP generates or modifies a user plane UP entity reportingpolicy based on the charging rule.

The UP reporting policy is used by the CP to indicate, to the UP, how tocollect statistics about service flow information (for example, collectstatistics about which service data flow information together) and howto report, to the CP, the statistics-collected service data flowinformation.

That the CP generates or modifies a UP reporting policy based on thecharging rule is specifically as follows:

If the charging rule is a new charging rule, the CP generates onecorresponding UP reporting policy for each charging rule (the chargingrule includes one granularity “Reporting Level” based on whichinformation is reported to a charging system). The UP reporting policyincludes at least one or more of the following parameters: a reportingpolicy ID (that uniquely identifies the UP reporting policy), a flowfeature and/or an application ID in the charging rule (the applicationID is used to identify an application through deep packet inspection),precedence of the UP reporting policy, a CP subscription event, anindication for use of UP quota information, or a used UP quota ID. If UPquota information includes a “one or more UP reporting policyidentifiers corresponding to the quota in the UP quota information”parameter, it means that the UP reporting policy can be associated withthe UP quota information. In this case, the UP reporting policy may notcarry the “used UP quota ID” parameter, and the UP establishes anassociation relationship between the UP reporting policy and the UPquota information based on the “one or more UP reporting policyidentifiers corresponding to the quota in the UP quota information”parameter included in the UP quota information. Alternatively, if the UPreporting policy carries the “used UP quota ID” parameter and the UPquota information includes a “one or more UP reporting policyidentifiers corresponding to the quota in the UP quota information”parameter, the UP establishes an association relationship between the UPreporting policy and the UP quota information based on the “used UPquota ID” parameter in the UP reporting policy and the “one or more UPreporting policy identifiers corresponding to the quota in the UP quotainformation” in the UP quota information.

The precedence is corresponding to precedence in the charging rule, andthe precedence is used to match a service data flow with a correspondingUP reporting policy and a corresponding UP quota, to use the quota.

The “indication for use of UP quota information” and “used UP quota ID”parameters may be both exist, or only one of them is used. If both theparameters exist, the UP determines, based on the “indication for use ofUP quota information”, whether the UP reporting policy is used foronline charging (that is, whether the UP reporting policy needs to beassociated with a specific quota, and whether to control bypassing ofthe service data flow based on the quota), and determines a to-be-usedquota based on the “used UP quota ID.” If one of the parameters is used,when the “used UP quota ID” is used, if the UP reporting policy includesthe UP quota ID, the UP determines that the UP reporting policy is usedfor online charging, or when the “indication for use of UP quotainformation” is used, a value of the “indication for use of UP quotainformation” may be a Boolean value, and when a value of the parameteris true, the UP determines that the UP reporting policy is used foronline charging. If the UP determines that the UP reporting policy isused for online charging, the UP collects statistics about a serviceflow based on the UP quota information associated with the UP reportingpolicy, and when no quota is associated (for example, the quota usageinformation has been reported, or the CP has not granted a quota) or anassociated quota is exhausted, the UP pauses data flow transmission, andoptionally, applies to the CP for a corresponding quota. If the UPdetermines that the UP reporting policy is used for offline charging,the UP directly collects statistics about usage information of theservice data flow based on the UP reporting policy, and the statisticscollection does not affect service data flow transmission.

The CP may deliver the CP subscription event to the UP, so that the UPreports the event (to indicate that the event occurs) to the CP whendetecting the event. In this case, quota usage information may not bereported, only the event is reported, and the CP performs quotamanagement based on the event. For example, in some scenarios, the CPmay apply for a quota only when a data flow starts. In this case, the CPmay deliver “a data flow starts” event in the UP reporting policy. Whendetecting that the data flow corresponding to the UP reporting policystarts, the UP reports the event to the CP, and then the CP applies tothe OCS for a quota based on the event. The CP subscription event hereinis different from a UP trigger. The UP trigger is used to triggerreporting of quota usage. The CP subscription event is used to onlynotify the CP of the event, and does not affect quota usage or triggerreporting of the quota usage information corresponding to the UPreporting policy.

When the UP executes the UP reporting policy and determines, based onthe “indication for use of UP quota information”, that a quota isrequired but currently there is no available UP quota (that is,currently, the UP does not have UP quota information associated with theUP reporting policy), the UP may request, from the CP, a UP quotaassociated with the UP reporting policy, and the CP allocates a quotabased on the request. For example, the CP applies to the OCS for a newquota and delivers the new quota, or modifies the UP reporting policy toassociate the UP reporting policy with an existing quota.

The CP saves a correspondence between the charging rule and the UPreporting policy. For example, the CP saves a correspondence between thecharging rule ID and the UP reporting policy ID.

If the charging rule is an update to an existing charging rule, the CPfinds a UP reporting policy corresponding to the charging rule, andmodifies the corresponding UP reporting policy based on information inthe charging rule.

For example, the UP reporting policy generated by the CP is as follows:

Reporting policy ID

Flow information (service flow information

Application ID (application identifier)

Precedence (precedence)

Event (CP subscription event)

Online Control (Indication for use of UP quota information)

Quota ID (used UP quota ID)

Step 502: The CP requests a required quota from an online chargingsystem OCS based on the charging rule.

Specifically, the CP applies, based on one or more executed chargingrules, to the OCS for a quota corresponding to a rating group in thecharging rule. Service data flows corresponding to the charging rulebelong to a same charging session between the CP and the OCS.

Specifically, the CP determines whether there is an available quota forthe rating group in the charging rule. If there is no available quota,the CP applies, based on the charging rule, to the OCS for a quota forthe rating group in the charging rule, and performs steps 503 to 504. Ifthere is an available quota, the CP performs step 505.

Specifically, the CP determines a granularity for a Gy sessioncorresponding to the charging rule. If the granularity for the Gysession is per IP-CAN bearer, the CP determines whether the IP-CANbearer has a quota available for the rating group. If the sessiongranularity is an IP-CAN session granularity, the CP determines whetherthe IP-CAN session has a quota available for the rating group.Generally, the quota is a quota belonging to a Gy session. Therefore,when determining whether there is an available quota, the CP needs tosearch a corresponding Gy session.

Step 503: The CP receives a quota delivered by the OCS, and generates UPquota information based on the quota delivered by the OCS.

The UP quota information is used for the UP to control a limit of datausage in the service data flow.

Optionally, before generating the UP quota information, the CP maydetermine, based on a CCA message returned by the OCS, whether todeliver quota information to the UP. A specific method is as follows:

If the OCS delivers a quota of o by using the CCA message or returns anerror message, the CP does not deliver quota information to the UP. Inother words, the CP does not generate UP quota information.

If the CP can manage usage of the quota (in other words, the CP has afunction of using the quota), the CP does not deliver quota informationto the UP. For example, if the CP determines that the quota iscontinuous time quotas or a CP-side event quota, the CP does not deliverquota information to the UP, and the CP uses the quota.

That the CP generates quota information for the UP based on the quotadelivered by the OCS is specifically: correspondingly generating, by theCP, UP quota information for each quota delivered by the OCS.

The UP quota information includes: a quota ID (corresponding to therating group in the charging rule corresponding to the Gy session), aquota type (traffic, duration, traffic+duration, and the like), a quotavalue, one or more user plane triggers corresponding to the quota, andone or more UP reporting policy identifiers corresponding to the quota.If the UP reporting policy carries the “used UP quota ID” parameter, itmeans that the UP reporting policy may be associated with the UP quotainformation. In this case, the UP quota information may not include the“one or more UP reporting policy identifiers corresponding to the quotain the UP quota information” parameter, and the UP establishes anassociation relationship between the UP reporting policy and the UPquota information based on the “used UP quota ID” parameter in the UPreporting policy. Alternatively, if the UP reporting policy carries the“used UP quota ID” parameter and the UP quota information includes a“one or more UP reporting policy identifiers corresponding to the quotain the UP quota information” parameter, the UP establishes anassociation relationship between the UP reporting policy and the UPquota information based on the “used UP quota ID” parameter in the UPreporting policy and the “one or more UP reporting policy identifierscorresponding to the quota in the UP quota information” in the UP quotainformation.

The user plane triggers corresponding to the quota include one or moreof the following information: the quota delivered by the OCS has acorresponding quota usage parameter (for example, aQuota-Consumption-Time (quota statistics collection interval), aTime-Quota-Mechanism (quota usage statistics collection method), aQuota-Holding-Time (quota validity period), a Time-Quota-Threshold (timequota consumption threshold), or a Volume-Quota-Threshold (volume quotaconsumption threshold)), or the CP determines, based on a localconfiguration, that a quota usage parameter needs to be delivered to theUP.

If the quota delivered by the OCS includes a time division point or anevent division point, for example, a rating switching point or sometrigger events that do not need to be reported in real time, the UPquota information further includes one or more statistics collectiondivision points, so that the UP can use the quota, collect statisticsabout usage information, and report the usage information, based on thedivision point, where the statistics collection division point may be atime or an event.

The CP saves a correspondence between the UP quota ID and the quotadelivered by the OCS.

A method in which the CP determines one or more UP reporting policyidentifiers corresponding to the quota is as follows: If the quotadelivered by the OCS is a quota allocated for a rating group in one ormore charging rules, the CP associates UP quota informationcorresponding to the quota delivered by the OCS with UP reportingpolicies corresponding to the one or more charging rules. Alternatively,if the quota delivered by the OCS is a quota allocated for a ratinggroup and a service identifier in one or more charging rules, the CPassociates UP quota information corresponding to the quota delivered bythe OCS with UP reporting policies corresponding to the one or morecharging rules. In other words, the CP associates the UP quotainformation with only a UP reporting policy corresponding to a chargingrule corresponding to the service identifier. Specifically, the CP firstdetermines, based on a quota request, a charging rule corresponding tothe quota delivered by the OCS, and then determines a corresponding UPreporting policy based on a saved correspondence between the chargingrule and the UP reporting policy.

The CP separates a CP trigger and a UP trigger from triggers deliveredby the OCS, and includes the UP trigger in the UP quota information.

If the OCS delivers a single quota (to be specific, each quota is usedonly for a rating group in the Gy session), the CP generates UP quotainformation for each rating group. The UP reporting policy identifiersincluded in the UP quota information are all UP reporting policiescorresponding to one or more charging rules corresponding to the ratinggroup.

If the OCS delivers a quota pool (to be specific, the OCS allocates onequota for a plurality of rating groups), and the quota pool iscorresponding to a plurality of charging rules (a plurality of ratinggroups) in the Gy session, the CP generates UP quota information for theplurality of rating groups in the quota pool. The UP reporting policyidentifiers included in the UP quota information are all UP reportingpolicies corresponding to the plurality of charging rules.

For example, the UP quota information generated by the CP is as follows:

  Quota-ID (quota ID) Quota (quota parameter)

Statistics collection division point (one or more, time or events, andused by the UP to use the quota based on the time division point or theevent division point, collect statistics about usage information, andreport the usage information)

CC-Time (time quota)

CC-Total-Octets (volume quota)

CC-Input-Octets (uplink volume quota)

CC-Output-Octets (downlink volume quota)

UP reporting policy ID (one or more)

UP trigger (one or more)

Step 504: The CP determines (or establishes) an association relationshipbetween the UP reporting policy and the UP quota information, includes,in the UP reporting policy and/or the UP quota information, a parameterthat indicates the association relationship, and delivers the UPreporting policy and/or the UP quota information to the UP.

A method in which the CP determines (or establishes) an associationrelationship between the UP reporting policy and the UP quotainformation may be specifically as follows: If the quota delivered bythe OCS is a quota allocated for a rating group in one or more chargingrules, the CP associates the UP quota information corresponding to thequota delivered by the OCS with UP reporting policies corresponding tothe one or more charging rules. Alternatively, if the quota delivered bythe OCS is a quota allocated for a rating group and a service identifierin one or more charging rules, the CP associates the UP quotainformation corresponding to the quota delivered by the OCS with UPreporting policies corresponding to the one or more charging rules. Inother words, the CP associates the UP quota information with only a UPreporting policy corresponding to a charging rule corresponding to theservice identifier. Specifically, the CP first determines, based on thequota request, the charging rule corresponding to the quota delivered bythe OCS, and then determines the corresponding UP reporting policy basedon the saved correspondence between the charging rule and the UPreporting policy.

A method of including, in the UP reporting policy and/or the UP quotainformation, a parameter that indicates the association relationship maybe specifically as follows: including a used UP quota ID to the UPreporting policy, including a UP reporting policy identifiercorresponding to the UP quota information in the UP quota information,or including a used UP quota ID in the UP reporting policy, andincluding a UP reporting policy identifier corresponding to the UP quotainformation in the UP quota information.

Specifically, after generating the UP reporting policy or the UP quotainformation, the CP may separately deliver the generated UP reportingpolicy or the generated UP quota information. The UP reporting policy orthe UP quota information is associated with currently existing UP quotainformation or a currently existing UP reporting policy of the UP, or isnot associated with any currently existing UP quota information or anycurrently existing UP reporting policy of the UP until the CPsubsequently delivers the UP quota information or the UP reportingpolicy. Alternatively, the CP may simultaneously deliver the UPreporting policy and the UP quota information (for example, whengenerating or modifying the UP reporting policy based on the chargingrule, the CP first saves the policy, and then delivers the policytogether with the UP quota information after the CP generates the UPquota information based on the quota delivered by the OCS).

After the UP receives the UP reporting policy and the UP quotainformation that are delivered by the CP, the UP collects statisticsabout quota usage information and service data flow information based onthe UP quota information and the UP reporting policy, and when areporting condition is met, reports the statistics-collected quota usageinformation of the UP reporting policy ID to the CP (for details, referto Embodiments 2, 3, and 4 in the following). Specifically, the UPmonitors, based on the flow feature and/or the application ID in the UPreporting policy and the precedence of the UP reporting policy, aservice data flow corresponding to the flow feature and/or anapplication, uses, for the detected service data flow, the UP quotainformation corresponding to the UP reporting policy (the UP quotainformation corresponding to the UP reporting policy is determined basedon association information carried in the UP reporting policy and/or theUP quota information), and separately collects statistics aboutinformation of the detected service data flow. If the UP quotainformation further includes one or more statistics collection divisionpoints, the UP separately collects statistics about information ofservice data flows before and after each statistics collection divisionpoint. If the UP receives an update message that is for the UP reportingpolicy and that is delivered by the CP or an update policy that is forthe UP quota information and that is delivered by the CP, the UPdetects, based on precedence of a new UP reporting policy and/or a newUP quota policy, a service data flow corresponding to the flow featureand/or the application, uses, for the detected service data flow, UPquota information corresponding to the updated UP reporting policy, andcollects statistics about information of the detected service data flowbased on the new UP reporting policy. If the CP delivers the CPsubscription event to the UP, the UP detects the event and reports theevent to the CP when the event occurs. In this case, quota usageinformation may not be reported, and only the event is reported. In thisway, the UP reports the event to the CP when detecting the event, andthe CP manages a quota based on the event. When the UP executes thereporting policy and determines, based on the “indication for use of UPquota information”, that a quota is required but currently there is noavailable UP quota, the UP may request a quota from the CP.

Note: Step 503 and step 504 may be performed for a plurality of times.In other words, even if steps 501 and 502 are not performed, step 503and step 504 may be performed based on a quota usage status (forexample, a quota is exhausted).

Step 505: If there is an available quota and the charging rule has acorresponding UP reporting policy, the CP modifies the UP reportingpolicy based on the charging rule, and delivers an update message to theUP to update the corresponding UP reporting policy, or if there is anavailable quota but the charging rule does not have a corresponding UPreporting policy, the CP generates a new UP reporting policy for thecharging rule, and delivers the new UP reporting policy to the UP (whichis used in a case in which the UP quota information does not include a“used UP quota ID” parameter), or the CP generates a new UP reportingpolicy for the charging rule, and generates updated UP quota informationfor UP quota information corresponding to the rating group in thecharging rule, and delivers the new UP reporting policy and the updatedUP quota information to the UP (which is used in a case in which the UPquota information includes a “used UP quota ID” parameter), where theupdated UP quota information includes the new UP reporting policy.

Further, if a CP-side trigger is met due to the charging rule, the CPfirst reports a quota usage status and collected service information tothe OCS (for a specific reporting method, refer to Embodiment 2), andthen applies for a quota again.

In step 505, the UP quota information sent by the CP to the UP includesa trigger event, and when the trigger event is met, the UP reports usageinformation of the quota and collected service data flow information tothe CP based on the UP reporting policy.

According to the solution in this embodiment of the present disclosure,in the architecture in which network control and data flow forwardingare separated, the CP generates the UP reporting policy based on thecharging policy activated by the PCRF, determines, based on the quotadelivered by the OCS, whether to deliver quota information to the UP,then generates the UP quota information, and establishes an associationbetween the UP reporting policy and the UP quota information. In thisway, online charging credit control and usage information reporting areimplemented in the architecture in which the CP and the UP areseparated.

Embodiment 2 of the present disclosure mainly describes a method forreporting charging quota usage information and service data flowinformation that is performed by using the CP function entity and the UPfunction entity that are defined in the foregoing embodiments when a CPtrigger condition is met after UP quota information and a UP reportingpolicy are delivered based on the method described in Embodiment 1. Themethod is performed in an architecture in which network control and dataflow forwarding are separated. Specifically, the architecture may be thenetwork architecture described in FIG. 4 in the foregoing embodiment. Inthis embodiment, FIG. 6 shows a main process for reporting the chargingquota usage information when the CP trigger condition is met. Detaileddescription of the process is as follows:

Step 601: A CP detects a trigger event on a CP, and a UP detects atrigger event on a UP and monitors usage of UP quota information.

Step 602: The CP detects that a trigger event (for example, a firstcharging trigger event, where the first charging trigger event iscorresponding to information about a first quota) corresponding to aquota (for example, the information about the first quota) on a CP sideis met, for example, a user location change is detected. Herein,alternatively, the CP may receive a re-authorization request RAR triggerdelivered by an OCS.

Step 603: The CP delivers a request message (for example, a firstrequest message) to the UP, to request to report usage information ofthe quota, where the request message carries an ID of the quota or alist of UP reporting policy IDs corresponding to the quota.

Step 604: The CP receives usage information that is corresponding to thefirst quota and that is returned by the UP, where the usage informationcorresponding to the first quota includes an identifier of the firstquota, all UP reporting policy IDs corresponding to the first quota,corresponding quota usage information, and a trigger currently met bythe UP.

Specifically, the UP obtains the quota usage information from UP quotainformation corresponding to the ID of the quota, or the UP obtains theusage information corresponding to all the UP reporting policy IDscarried in the request. Statistics about the usage information arecollected based on a granularity defined in the UP reporting policy. TheUP replies a response message to the CP. The response message carriesthe ID of the quota, the obtained quota usage information correspondingto the quota, and a trigger met by the UP, and the like. The quota usageinformation includes a UP reporting policy ID and corresponding usageinformation.

If the UP quota information delivered by the CP carries a statisticscollection division point (one or more, time or events, and used for theUP to use the quota based on the time division point or the eventdivision point, collect statistics about usage information, and reportthe usage information), the quota usage information reported by the UPincludes information before and after the time division point.

For example, the message (a quota-related part) reported by the UP tothe CP is as follows:

Quota-ID (if the quota ID is used in the request)

Met trigger (one or more)

Used-Quota-Value

UP reporting policy ID 1

Quota usage information corresponding to the UP reporting policy ID 1Division indication (optionally, if the CP delivers one or morestatistics collection division points, this parameter indicates astatistics collection division point based on which statistics about theusage information herein is collected by segment)

Used-Quota-Value

UP reporting policy ID 2

Quota usage information corresponding to the UP reporting policy ID 2

Division indication (optionally, if the CP delivers one or morestatistics collection division points, this parameter indicates astatistics collection division point based on which statistics about theusage information herein is collected by segment)

Step 605: The CP generates a charging reporting message CCR based on asaved correspondence between a UP quota ID and a quota delivered by theOCS, where the CCR includes an RG of the quota, quota usage informationcorresponding to each UP reporting policy ID, information about thecontrol plane entity (for example, a user location or a PLMNidentifier), a trigger met by the CP, and a trigger (if any) met by theUP, and optionally, may further carry an ID or an address of the UP.

Step 606: The CP sends the CCR to the OCS to report charginginformation, and optionally, to apply for a new quota.

For a step after the OCS delivers the new quota, refer to steps 503 and504 in Embodiment 1.

According to the solution in this embodiment of the present disclosure,in the architecture in which network control and data flow forwardingare separated, the CP monitors a trigger event of a control plane entityon a network side, and when detecting that the trigger eventcorresponding to the quota on the CP side is met, requests the UP toreport the quota usage information corresponding to the event to the UPand the OCS. In this way, charging quota usage information is collectedand reported in the CU-separated architecture when the control planeentity trigger condition is met.

Embodiment 3 of the present disclosure mainly describes a method forreporting charging quota usage information that is performed by usingthe UP entity and the CP entity that are defined in the foregoingembodiments when a user plane entity trigger condition is met after UPquota information and a UP reporting policy are delivered based on themethod described in Embodiment 1. The method is performed in anarchitecture in which network control and data flow forwarding areseparated. Specifically, the architecture may be the networkarchitecture described in FIG. 4 in the foregoing embodiment. In thisembodiment, FIG. 7 shows a main process for reporting the charging quotausage information when the user plane trigger condition is met.Description of the process is as follows:

Step 701: A CP detects a trigger event on a CP, and a UP detects atrigger event on a

UP and monitors usage of UP quota information.

Step 702: The UP detects that a trigger event (for example, a secondcharging trigger event) corresponding to a quota (for example, a secondquota) on a UP side is met, for example, detects that a quota expires,and the UP obtains usage information corresponding to all UP reportingpolicy IDs corresponding to the quota, where statistics about the usageinformation are collected based on a granularity defined in the UPreporting policy.

Step 703: The UP sends a reporting message to the CP, where thereporting message carries an ID of the quota, the obtained quota usageinformation corresponding to the quota, a trigger currently met by theUP, and the like. The usage information is separately packaged based onthe UP reporting policy (to be specific, a UP reporting policy ID andcorresponding usage information).

A correspondence between a quota and a UP reporting policy ID is definedin the UP quota information delivered by the CP.

If the UP quota information delivered by the CP carries a statisticscollection division point (one or more, time or events, and used for theUP to use the quota based on the time division point or the eventdivision point, collect statistics about usage information, and reportthe usage information), the quota usage information reported by the UPincludes information before and after the time division point.

For example, the message (a quota-related part) reported by the UP tothe CP is as follows:

Quota-ID (if the quota ID is used in the request)

Met trigger (one or more)

Used-Quota-Value

UP reporting policy ID 1

Quota usage information corresponding to the UP reporting policy ID 1

Division indication (optionally, if the CP delivers one or morestatistics collection division points, this parameter indicates astatistics collection division point based on which statistics about theusage information herein is collected by segment)

Used-Quota-Value

UP reporting policy ID 2

Quota usage information corresponding to the UP reporting policy ID 2

Division indication (optionally, if the CP delivers one or morestatistics collection division points, this parameter indicates astatistics collection division point based on which statistics about theusage information herein is collected by segment)

Step 704: The CP generates a charging reporting message CCR based on acorrespondence between a UP reporting policy ID and a charging rule,where the CCR includes an RG of the quota, quota usage informationcorresponding to each UP reporting policy ID, information about thecontrol plane entity (for example, a user location or a PLMNidentifier), a trigger met by the UP, and a trigger (if any) met by theCP, and optionally, may further carry an ID or an address of the UP.

Step 705: The CP sends the CCR to an OCS to report charging information,and optionally, to apply for a new quota.

Step 706: The OCS delivers a quota by using a CCA message.

For a step after the OCS delivers the new quota, refer to steps 503 and504 in Embodiment 1.

According to the solution in this embodiment of the present disclosure,in the architecture in which network control and data flow forwardingare separated, the UP located in the user plane entity monitors the userplane entity trigger event, and when detecting that the trigger eventcorresponding to the quota on the UP side is met, reports the quotausage information corresponding to the event to the corresponding CP. Inthis way, charging quota usage information is collected and reported inthe CU-separated architecture when the user plane entity triggercondition is met.

Embodiment 4 of the present disclosure mainly describes a method forreporting charging quota usage information that is performed by usingthe UP entity and the CP entity that are defined in the foregoingembodiments when both a user plane entity trigger condition and acontrol plane entity trigger condition are met after UP quotainformation and a UP reporting policy are delivered based on the methoddescribed in Embodiment 1. The method is performed in an architecture inwhich network control and data flow forwarding are separated.Specifically, the architecture may be the network architecture describedin FIG. 2 in the foregoing embodiment.

If both the CP and the UP detect that a trigger for a correspondingquota (for example, a third quota) is met. For example, if the CPdetects a user location change, and meanwhile the UP detects that thequota expires, the CP triggers “the CP delivers a request to request theUP to report charging information”, and meanwhile the UP triggers “theUP reports the charging information to the CP”. The “meanwhile” hereinmeans that when the CP detects that a CP trigger (for example, a thirdcharging trigger event) is met, before the UP receives a request message(for example, a second request message) delivered by the CP for the CPtrigger, the UP also detects that a UP trigger (for example, a fourthcharging trigger event) is met, or when the UP detects that a UP trigger(for example, a fourth charging trigger event) is met, before the CPreceives a reporting message sent by the UP for the trigger, the CP alsodetects that a CP trigger (for example, a third charging trigger event)is met. The “meanwhile” is not necessarily an absolutely same moment.

In the foregoing case, the UP actively reports usage informationcorresponding to all UP reporting policy IDs corresponding to the quotato the CP. After receiving the information (carrying an ID of the quota,the obtained quota usage information corresponding to the quota, atrigger met by the UP, and the like) reported by the UP, the CP directlygenerates a charging reporting message CCR. The CCR includes an RG ofthe quota, quota usage information corresponding to each UP reportingpolicy ID, information about the control plane entity (for example, auser location or a PLMN identifier), a trigger met by the CP, and atrigger met by the UP, and optionally, may further carry an ID or anaddress of the UP.

In addition, the CP delivers a request message (for example, a secondrequest message) to the UP, to request to report usage information ofthe quota. After the UP receives the request message of the CP, charginginformation has been actively sent to the CP, and therefore, no furtherinformation is currently available for reporting, and the UP returns aresponse (for example, a response message for the second requestmessage) to the CP. The response message does not carry the usageinformation of the quota but carries an indication that the informationhas been reported.

According to the solution in this embodiment of the present disclosure,in the architecture in which network control and data flow forwardingare separated, the UP monitors the user plane entity trigger event, andthe CP monitors the control plane entity trigger event. With properinteractive arrangement, the method for reporting the charging quotausage information is implemented when both the user plane entity triggerevent and the control plane entity trigger event are met.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a chargingapparatus 800. Referring to FIG. 8, the charging apparatus is applied toa network architecture in which network control and data flow forwardingare separated, and is configured to perform the method for the controlplane entity in the foregoing embodiments. The charging apparatus is acontrol plane CP function apparatus. Referring to FIG. 8, the chargingapparatus includes a policy generation unit 801, configured to: executea charging rule installed or activated by a policy and charging rulesfunction PCRF entity, and generate a user plane UP entity reportingpolicy based on the charging rule, a quota information generation unit802, configured to: request, from an online charging system OCS, a quotarequired by a rating group in the charging rule, receive a quotadelivered by the OCS, and generate UP quota information based on thequota, and a sending unit 803, configured to: determine an associationrelationship between the UP reporting policy and the UP quotainformation, include, in the UP reporting policy and/or the UP quotainformation, a parameter that indicates the association relationship,and deliver the UP reporting policy and/or the UP quota information tothe UP.

In a case in which charging quota usage information is reported when acontrol plane entity trigger event is met, as shown in FIG. 8, thecharging apparatus 800 further includes a trigger unit 804, configuredto: send a first request message to a user plane UP entity after a firstcharging trigger event is detected on a control plane side, to requestthe UP to report usage information of a first quota, where the requestmessage carries an identifier of the first quota or a list of UPreporting policy IDs corresponding to the first quota, and the firstcharging trigger event is corresponding to information about the firstquota, a receiving unit 805, configured to receive usage informationthat is corresponding to the first quota and that is returned by the UP,where the usage information corresponding to the first quota includesthe identifier of the first quota, all UP reporting policy IDscorresponding to the first quota, corresponding quota usage information,and a trigger currently met by the UP, and a reporting unit 806,configured to generate, based on the usage information that is of thefirst quota and that is reported by the UP, a charging reporting messageand send the charging reporting message to the OCS.

In a case in which charging quota usage information is reported when auser plane entity trigger event is met, the charging apparatus 800further includes (not shown in FIG. 8): a receiving unit, configured to:receive quota usage information that is corresponding to a second quotaand that is reported by the UP, where the quota usage informationcorresponding to the second quota is usage information that iscorresponding to the second quota corresponding to a second chargingtrigger event and that is reported to the CP after the UP detects thesecond charging trigger event on a UP side, and the usage informationcorresponding to the second quota includes an identifier of the secondquota, all UP reporting policy IDs corresponding to the second quota,corresponding quota usage information, and a trigger currently met bythe UP.

In a case in which charging quota usage information is reported whenboth a user plane entity trigger condition and a control plane entitytrigger condition are met, the charging apparatus 800 further includes(not shown in FIG. 8) a trigger unit, configured to: detect a thirdcharging trigger event corresponding to a third quota, and send a secondrequest message to the UP to request the UP to report usage informationof the third quota, and a receiving unit, configured to receive quotausage information that is corresponding to the third quota and that isreported by the UP, where the quota usage information is quota usageinformation that is corresponding to the third quota and that isreported to the CP after the UP detects a fourth charging trigger eventon the UP side, and the usage information of the third quota includes anidentifier of the third quota, all UP reporting policy IDs correspondingto the third quota, and corresponding quota usage information.

The receiving unit is further configured to receive a response messagereturned by the UP for the second request message, where the responsemessage includes an indication that the requested quota usageinformation has been reported.

The charging apparatus 800 provided in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure has a function of the control plane CP. In the architecturein which network control and data flow forwarding are separated, thecharging apparatus generates the UP reporting policy based on thecharging rule in the charging policy activated by the PCRF, generatesthe UP quota information based on the quota delivered by the OCS, anddelivers the reporting policy and the UP quota information to the UP,thereby implementing interaction between the CP and the UP in theCU-separated architecture. The charging apparatus establishes theassociation between the UP reporting policy and the UP quotainformation, thereby implementing online charging credit control andusage information reporting in the CU-separated architecture. Inaddition, methods for collecting and reporting quota usage informationunder various different trigger conditions are provided, therebyimplementing flexible charging.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a chargingapparatus 900. Referring to FIG. 9, the charging apparatus is applied toa network architecture in which network control and data flow forwardingare separated, and is configured to perform the method for the userplane entity in the foregoing embodiments. The charging apparatus is aUP function apparatus, and is usually close to a gateway device in anaccess network after CU separation. The charging apparatus includes areceiving unit 901, configured to receive a UP reporting policy and UPquota information that are delivered by a control plane CP functionapparatus, a statistics collecting unit 902, configured to collectstatistics about quota usage information of the UP based on the UP quotainformation and the UP reporting policy, and a reporting unit 903,configured to report the statistics-collected UP quota usage informationto the CP.

The UP reporting policy includes one or more of the following: thereporting policy ID, a flow feature and/or an application ID in thecharging rule, precedence of the UP reporting policy, a CP subscriptionevent, an indication for use of UP quota information, or a used UP quotaID.

The UP quota information includes one or more of the following: a quotaID, a quota type, a quota value, one or more user plane triggerscorresponding to a quota, or a corresponding UP reporting policy ID.

The statistics collecting unit 902 is further configured to: match,based on the flow feature and/or the application ID in the UP reportingpolicy and the precedence of the UP reporting policy, a service dataflow corresponding to the flow feature and/or an application, use, forthe matched service data flow, the UP quota information corresponding tothe UP reporting policy, and separately collect statistics aboutinformation of the detected service data flow based on the UP reportingpolicy.

In a case in which charging quota usage information is reported when acontrol plane entity trigger event is met, a case in which chargingquota usage information is reported when a user plane entity triggerevent is met, and a case in which charging quota usage information isreported when both a user plane entity trigger event and a control planeentity trigger event are met, for a function of the charging apparatus900, refer to the descriptions related to the UP function entity in theforegoing embodiments. Details are not described herein again.

The charging apparatus 900 provided in this embodiment of the presentdisclosure has a function of the user plane UP function. In thearchitecture in which network control and data flow forwarding areseparated, the charging apparatus receives the UP reporting policy andthe UP quota information that are delivered by the control plane CPfunction apparatus, collects statistics about the quota usageinformation and the service data flow information based on the UP quotainformation and the UP reporting policy, and reports, to the CP, thestatistics-collected quota usage information of the UP reporting policyID. In this way, online charging credit control and usage informationreporting are implemented in the CU-separated architecture.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a chargingsystem 1000. Referring to FIG. 10, the charging system is applied to anetwork architecture in which network control and data flow forwardingare separated, and is used to perform all the foregoing methodembodiments. The charging system includes a control plane CP functionapparatus 1001 (corresponding to the charging apparatus 800 in theforegoing apparatus embodiment) and a user plane UP function apparatus1002 (corresponding to the charging apparatus 900 in the foregoingapparatus embodiment). The CP function apparatus 1001 is configured to:execute a charging rule installed or activated by a policy and chargingrules function PCRF entity, generate a user plane UP entity reportingpolicy based on the charging rule, request a required quota from anonline charging system OCS based on the charging rule, receive a quotadelivered by the OCS, generate UP quota information based on the quota,determine an association relationship between the UP reporting policyand the UP quota information, included, in the UP reporting policyand/or the UP quota information, a parameter that indicates theassociation relationship, and deliver the UP reporting policy and/or theUP quota information to the UP function apparatus.

The user plane UP function apparatus 1002 is configured to interact withthe CP function apparatus and is configured to: receive the UP reportingpolicy and the UP quota information that are delivered by the CPfunction apparatus, collect statistics about quota usage information ofthe UP based on the UP quota information and the UP reporting policy,and report, to the CP function apparatus, the statistics-collected UPquota usage information.

According to the charging system woo provided in this embodiment of thepresent disclosure, in the architecture in which network control anddata flow forwarding are separated, with work division and interactionbetween the CP function apparatus and the UP function apparatus, onlinecharging credit control and usage information reporting are implementedin the architecture in which the CP and the UP are separated.

FIG. 11 describes a structure or an implementation of a chargingapparatus 1100 provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. Thecharging apparatus may be configured to perform all the foregoing methodembodiments. The charging apparatus 1100 includes: at least oneprocessor 1101 (for example, a CPU), at least one network interface 1105or another communications interface, a memory 1106, and at least onecommunications bus 1103 that is configured to implement connection andcommunication between these units. The processor 1102 is configured toperform an executable module stored in the memory 1106, for example, acomputer program. The memory 1106 may include a high-speed random accessmemory (RAM, Random Access Memory), or may include a non-volatile memory(non-volatile memory), for example, at least one disk memory.Communication and connection between a gateway in the system and atleast one of other network elements are implemented by using the atleast one network interface 1105 (which may be wired or wireless), forexample, by using the Internet, a wide area network, a local areanetwork, or a metropolitan area network.

In some implementations, the memory 1106 stores a program 11061, and theprogram 11061 may be executed by the processor 1102. The programincludes executing, by a control plane CP entity, a charging ruleinstalled or activated by a policy and charging rules function PCRFentity, generating, by the CP, a user plane UP entity reporting policybased on the charging rule, requesting, by the CP, a required quota froman online charging system OCS based on the charging rule, receiving, bythe CP, a quota delivered by the OCS, and generating UP quotainformation based on the quota, and establishing, by the CP, anassociation relationship between the UP reporting policy and the UPquota information, including, in the UP reporting policy and/or the UPquota information, a parameter that indicates the associationrelationship, and delivering the UP reporting policy and/or the UP quotainformation to the UP.

Alternatively, the program includes receiving, by a user plane UPentity, a UP reporting policy and UP quota information that aredelivered by a control plane CP entity, collecting, by the UP,statistics about quota usage information of the UP based on the UP quotainformation and the UP reporting policy, and reporting, by the UP, thequota usage information of the UP to the CP.

Content such as information exchange and an execution process betweenthe units or modules in the apparatus and the system is based on a sameidea as the method embodiments 1 to 4 of the present disclosure.Therefore, for detailed content, refer to descriptions in the methodembodiments of the present disclosure, and details are not describedherein again.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may understand that all or some ofthe processes of the methods in some embodiments may be implemented by acomputer program instructing relevant hardware. The program may bestored in a computer readable storage medium. When the program runs, theprocesses of the methods in some embodiments are performed. Theforegoing storage medium may include: a magnetic disk, an optical disc,a read-only memory (ROM, read-only memory), or a random access memory(RAM, random access memory).

Specific embodiments are used in this specification to describe theprinciple and implementations of the present disclosure. The foregoingembodiments are merely intended to help understand the method and ideaof the present disclosure. In addition, with respect to theimplementations and the application scope, modifications may be made bya person of ordinary skill in the art based on the idea of the presentdisclosure. Therefore, content of the specification shall not beconstrued as a limitation on the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A charging method, comprising: requesting, by acontrol plane (CP) entity of a network architecture in which networkcontrol and data flow forwarding are separated, a required quota from anonline charging system according to a charging rule that is controlledby a policy and charging rules function entity; receiving, by the CPentity, a quota delivered by the online charging system; generating, bythe CP entity, user plane (UP) quota information according to the quotadelivered by the online charging system; generating, by the CP entity, aUP reporting policy according to the charging rule; and delivering, bythe CP entity, at least one of the UP reporting policy or the UP quotainformation to the UP entity, wherein the UP reporting policy has aparameter that indicates an association relationship between the UPreporting policy and the UP quota information.
 2. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein the parameter is a quota identifier (ID).
 3. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the UP reporting policy comprisesone or more of a reporting policy identifier (ID), a flow feature, anapplication ID in the charging rule, a precedence of the UP reportingpolicy, or a quota ID.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein theUP quota information comprises one or more of a quota identifier (ID), aquota type, a quota value, or one or more user plane triggers.
 5. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:receiving, by the CP entity, quota usage information reported by the UPentity; and sending, according to the quota usage information, acharging report message to the online charging system to report charginginformation.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the quotadelivered by the online charging system is a quota pool; and wherein thegenerating, by the CP entity, the UP reporting policy comprisesgenerating, by the CP entity, UP quota information for the quota pool.7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the delivering the at leastone of the UP reporting policy or the UP quota information comprisesperforming at least one of: delivering, by the CP entity, aftergenerating the UP reporting policy, the UP reporting policy to the UPentity; delivering, by the CP entity, after generating the UP quotainformation, the UP quota information to the UP entity; orsimultaneously delivering, by the CP entity, the UP reporting policy andthe UP quota information to the UP entity.
 8. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the method further comprises: determining, by the CPentity, whether an available quota exists for a rating group in thecharging rule; and performing at least one of: requesting, by the CPentity from the online charging system, in response to an availablequota not existing for the rating group in the charging rule, a quotarequired by the rating group in the charging rule; updating, by the CPentity, in response the available quota existing and further in responseto existence of a UP reporting policy corresponding to the chargingrule, the UP reporting policy based on the charging rule, and deliveringan updated UP reporting policy to the UP entity; or performing, inresponse to the available quota existing and further in response to a UPreporting policy corresponding to the charging rule not existing, atleast one of the following: generating, by the CP entity, a new UPreporting policy for the charging rule, and delivering the new UPreporting policy to the UP entity; or generating, by the CP entity, anew UP reporting policy for the charging rule, generating updated UPquota information for UP quota information corresponding to the ratinggroup in the charging rule, and delivering the new UP reporting policyand the updated UP quota information to the UP entity.
 9. The methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising: detecting, by the CP entity, afirst charging trigger event on a CP side; sending, by the CP entity, arequest message to the UP entity, wherein the request message carries anidentifier (ID) of a first quota, wherein the ID of the first quotacorresponds to the first charging trigger event; and receiving, by theCP entity, from the UP entity, at least one of the ID of the firstquota, usage information of the first quota, or a trigger currently metby the UP entity.
 10. The method according to claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving, by the CP entity, from the UP entity, at leastone of an identifier (ID) of a second quota corresponding to a chargingtrigger event that is detected by the UP entity, usage information ofthe second quota, or a trigger currently met by the UP entity.
 11. Themethod according to claim 1, further comprising: detecting, by the CPentity, a third charging trigger event; sending, by the CP entity, arequest message to the UP entity requesting that the UP entity reportusage information of a third quota corresponding to the third chargingtrigger event; and receiving, by the CP entity, a response messagereturned by the UP entity in response to the request message, whereinthe response message comprises an indication that the usage informationof the third quota has been reported.
 12. A charging method, comprising:receiving, by a user plane (UP) entity of a network architecture inwhich network control and data flow forwarding are separated, a UPreporting policy and UP quota information that are delivered by acontrol plane (CP) entity, wherein the UP reporting policy has aparameter that indicates an association relationship between the UPreporting policy and the UP quota information; collecting, by the UPentity, quota usage information according to the UP quota informationand the UP reporting policy; and reporting, by the UP entity, the quotausage information to the CP entity.
 13. The method according to claim12, wherein the parameter is a quota identifier (ID).
 14. The methodaccording to claim 12, wherein the UP reporting policy comprises one ormore of a reporting policy identifier (ID), a flow feature, anapplication ID in a charging rule, a precedence of the UP reportingpolicy, or a quota ID; and wherein the UP quota information comprisesone or more of a quota ID, a quota type, a quota value, or one or moreuser plane triggers.
 15. The method according to claim 14, wherein themethod further comprises: receiving, by the UP entity, an update messagethat is delivered by the CP entity for updating the UP reporting policy;monitoring, by the UP entity, according to the updated UP reportingpolicy, a service data flow corresponding to at least one of the flowfeature or an application; using, by the UP entity, for the monitoredservice data flow, UP quota information corresponding to the updated UPreporting policy; and collecting, by the UP entity, information of themonitored service data flow based on the updated UP reporting policy.16. The method according to claim 12, wherein the reporting, by the UPentity, the quota usage information to the CP entity comprises:receiving, by the UP entity, a request message delivered by the CPentity, wherein the request message carries an identifier (ID) of afirst quota corresponding to a charging trigger event detected by the CPentity on a CP side; and returning, by the UP entity, to the CP entity,the ID of the first quota, usage information of the first quota, or atrigger currently met by the UP entity.
 17. The method according toclaim 12, wherein the reporting the quota usage information to the CPentity comprises: reporting, by the UP entity, to the CP entity, anidentifier of a second quota corresponding to a charging trigger eventdetected by the UP entity on a UP side, usage information of the secondquota, or a trigger currently met by the UP entity.
 18. The methodaccording to claim 12, wherein the reporting the quota usage informationto the CP entity comprises: reporting, by the UP entity, to the CPentity, an identifier of a third quota corresponding to a chargingtrigger event detected by the UP entity on a UP side, and usageinformation of the quota; receiving, by the UP entity, a request messagesent by the CP entity, requesting that the UP entity report the usageinformation of the third quota; and returning, by the UP entity, aresponse message for the request message to the CP entity, wherein theresponse message comprises an indication that the usage information ofthe third quota has been reported.
 19. A charging system, comprising: auser plane (UP) function apparatus in a network architecture in whichnetwork control and data flow forwarding are separated; and a controlplane (CP) function apparatus in the network architecture and configuredto: request a required quota from an online charging system according toa charging rule that is controlled by a policy and charging rulesfunction entity; receive a quota delivered by the online chargingsystem; generate UP quota information based on the quota; generate a UPreporting policy according to the charging rule; and deliver the UPreporting policy and the UP quota information to the UP functionapparatus, wherein the UP reporting policy has a parameter thatindicates an association relationship between the UP reporting policyand the UP quota information; wherein the UP function apparatus isconfigured to interact with the CP function apparatus and is configuredto: receive the UP reporting policy and the UP quota information thatare delivered by the CP function apparatus; collect quota usageinformation according to the UP quota information and the UP reportingpolicy; and report, to the CP function apparatus, the quota usageinformation.
 20. The charging system according to claim 19, wherein theonline charging system is further configured to: receive, from the CPfunction apparatus, a request for the required quota; deliver, the quotato the CP function apparatus.
 21. A charging method, comprising:requesting, by a CP entity in a network architecture in which networkcontrol and data flow forwarding are separated, a required quota from anonline charging system according to a charging rule that is controlledby a policy and charging rules function entity; receiving, by the CPentity, a quota delivered by the online charging system; generating, bythe CP entity, user plane (UP) quota information according to the quotadelivered by the online charging system; generating, by the CP entity, aUP reporting policy according to the charging rule; delivering, by theCP entity, the UP reporting policy and the UP quota information to theUP entity, wherein the UP reporting policy has a parameter thatindicates an association relationship between the UP reporting policyand the UP quota information; collecting, by the UP entity, after the UPentity receives the UP reporting policy and the UP quota information,quota usage information according to the UP quota information and the UPreporting policy; and reporting, by the UP entity, the quota usageinformation to the CP entity.
 22. A charging apparatus, comprising: aprocessor; and a memory, wherein the memory stores application programcode, and wherein the processor is configured to, during operation,execute the application program code to: request a required quota froman online charging system according to a charging rule that iscontrolled by a policy and charging rules function entity; receive aquota delivered by the online charging system; generate user plane (UP)quota information according to the quota delivered by the onlinecharging system; generate a UP reporting policy according to thecharging rule; and deliver at least one of the UP reporting policy orthe UP quota information to the UP entity, wherein the UP reportingpolicy has a parameter that indicates an association relationshipbetween the UP reporting policy and the UP quota information.
 23. Acharging apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a memory, wherein thememory is configured to store application program code, and wherein theprocessor is configured, during operation, to execute the applicationprogram code to: receive a UP reporting policy and UP quota informationthat are delivered by a control plane (CP) entity, wherein the UPreporting policy has a parameter that indicates an associationrelationship between the UP reporting policy and the UP quotainformation; collect quota usage information according to the UP quotainformation and the UP reporting policy; and report the quota usageinformation to the CP entity.